Platinum Soft Core Colored Pencils with Tin Case, Pack of 72

I am very impressed with this set of pencils. They are an excellent value for the price! I have many high-end brands such as Prismacolor, Polychromos, and Luminance. Every brand has its own personality. The Platinum pencils are more similar to Polychromos than Prismacolor. There is no waxy build-up at all. There is very little dust (they don't crumble away like some other cheaper brands). They sharpen to a beautiful point and keep their point for a long time, especially if you work in light layers, which I highly recommend for this pencil.The best way to work with these is to slowly build soft layers. You can layer and layer and layer and layer, unlike other pencils that max out really fast and then you have to press hard or use solvent if you want to add any more layers. I get a very rich result with the technique of gradual, light layering, without using any burnishing or solvents. This is so much easier on my hand, because I don't ever have to press hard. It just takes some patience.The colors are fabulous for coloring books, with a full range of skin tones (light, medium, and dark); a silver and gold that are not scratchy; LOTS of pinks and purples; a huge array of greens for all those leaves; NOT too many grays; and a decent black. There are no repeated colors in this set. They may look similar if applied lightly, but you will see the difference if you apply more layers. I get the best results on a slightly textured paper, such as the paper used in Amazon-printed coloring books.I love the beautiful white color and colored ends. They have the look and feel of a high-end pencil, like Tombow. They don't have numbers or names. I just labelled mine with a Sharpie from 1-72, right in-between the label and the colored end, and then swatched them, so keeping track of the colors is not problem.Incredible deal. Amazing pencil. In spite of the low price, I don't consider these a lesser-then, budget pencil. I have them in a nice case and will be using them and loving them as much as my more expensive pencils.

I am so impressed! I read about this company on their website, and they are created by artists, painters, designers who have developed products that they would like to use.Well they did it right!I have a great variety of colored pencils, from Crayola, to Marco Raffine, to Prismacolors, to Faber Castell Polychromos. These are absolutely in the top bracket with my finer pencils.They blend very well. They lay down smooth and creamy.. The pigmentation is high and it doesn't take much coloring to get a vibrant color. They are a little larger around, reminding me of Dick Blick Pencils (which I also own) and Polychromos which has a bigger barrel. It means they have more color inside and last longer. I had no trouble sharpening them, or the lead breaking when I used a small hand held german pencil sharpener just for colored pencils. Even though I have high end pencils, these were the pencils of choice today to color with and do my work.I am very impressed, so much so I am ordering their fineliners. I believe you will enjoy using them, they are inexpensive and very high end, and certainly satisfied my taste for blending, shading and detail work.They came packaged in a lovely tin, encased in plastic pencil trays that held them firmly so when they arrived, they were in perfect shape. It is the same kind of packaging you would get from Polychromos or Prismacolors.Thanks to the manufacturer who took a lot of effort, work and designing to get such a worthy product.

I give these pencils 4 stars for a few reasons right of the bat the trays are so thin and weak, lack or color names and/or numbers for colors, (I am sure everyone agrees with this). It took me a few months of debating on getting these pencils, there are more good reviews then there are bad reviews. Well here it is, I like these for blending and being a softcore. When I did receive these in the mail they were nicely packaged in a box with a few other items that I ordered, (you can get many items in a box, Amazon does ask of this at times, wish they did all the time). I opened the tin to check them out, right away I noticed the tin is sturdy, there was a strong smell to the pencils, but surely not a chemical smell it was actually "fresh cut wood smell" which to me is a calming, happy childhood smell (grew up around construction). Here are some PROS and CONS about these pencils:PROS:1. Lightweight2. Soft Core (Also a con)3. Easy to blend4. Sturdy tin5. Bright bold colors6. Easy to sharpen7. Affordable (price has dropped from $20.00 to $14.00)8. Also easy for layering (light handed) maybe 4 to 7 layers9. Pencils have own grove spot on the tray10. Packaged great11. Work really well on colored paper (in Photo I used blacked construction)12. water Soluble (not the greatest, but best if dip pencil tip in water or apply water to paper first)13. Work great on 110 lb cardstock 92 bright from Georgia-PacificCONS:1. Softcore (because the leads need to be resharpened more often than wanting to)2. Lack of name of colors and/or numbers for colors3. Flimsy trays4. Way to waxy (especially when there is to many layers or heavy-handed) makes it hard to colorHere are some Photos of how they looked when I got the pencils and a sample coloring page and a color chart, I also like to mess around with the pencils with a black light many of these pencils change colors like the yellows turn reddish, blues and greens are kinda brownish red. The last photo is after rearranging the pencils in the right order to my best knowledge.I will be getting a couple more sets of these when I can.